Robin Abcarian: Sexual assault: How much has really changed?

On Thursday morning, Karen Pomer and I returned to Virginia Avenue in Santa Monica, a place that held many traumatic memories for her.

It was on this block in October 1995 that Karen was raped in her car by a man who had abducted her at gunpoint as she arrived home one late evening after a rally against domestic violence. This was shortly after the murder trial of O.J. Simpson, who had brutalized his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, during their marriage. Spousal abuse was on everyone's mind.

When her rapist left her to relieve himself, Karen escaped, and ran screaming to the first home she could get to. She